Death Loves Company
by ronko45
Summary: The death of a loved one is hard to bear, especially when love had just started to blossom... but what would you do if you could hold them in your hands for an even longer time than before? CasshernxLyuze.


In this story, Luna's healing causes immortality... I don't know if that was how it was in the show, but it is like that here.

If I owned Casshern Sins... exactly, I would have an answer to that statement if I did...

Death Loves Company

-X-

It had been too long since that fateful day Casshern decided to procure his role as Death. The robots that had gone to Luna, in order to accept her "healing", had all lived long and immortal lives. Casshern told Luna, the day he told her not to forget that death was a part of living, that the robots could do whatever they pleased; if they wanted to live in suffering just as he had, then so be it. He watched the newly-healed robots as they lived on in agonizing pain. The only kind of pain one can get when they have outlived every other robot that had brought meaning to their lives. Casshern understood greatly how they had felt. He understood the torment and the insanity that they had undergone after finally losing their minds from the imperceptible loneliness that surrounded each and every one of them.

Fights should have ceased when Luna healed them, but they only progressed. Insanity only fueled insanity, and more and more robots began to fight as the last of their loved ones withered away from the Ruin that had not ceased for those who decided not to go after Luna's healing. Casshern would have loved to put the suffering and pitiful robots out of their misery, but try as he may, it just couldn't be done. As immortal robots, their fights would just last on and on and never truly have any purpose. He left those robots alone, only walking around the barren earth, going to his next unintentional victim. Death followed Casshern wherever he went, and no matter where that was, or when, someone would die by him.

Casshern was walking over to a very nostalgic spot, far from Luna, but still close enough that he could get over to the castle should the need arise. He stood behind a giant rock, looking about the vast colorful field of flowers just in front of his feet. Kneeling to pick one up, he remembered a time when he was here, in this same field, but a time when the idea of a field had only begun to be put into motion. He stood up, and looked over to the right where a young woman had walked into field, a robotic dog trailing behind her. The dog looked right at Casshern, but said nothing, only nodding his head in acknowledgment. Casshern looked at the woman, a smile barely visible on his lips.

The woman was his once young companion Ringo, a wizened young girl, whom he would look after from time to time. He could never tell if she knew he was around, but she would call out his name, along with Ohji's and Lyuze's, as if she knew no matter where she went, they would be looking after her. Friender, the dog, had tugged on Ringo's long white dress. "What is it Friender?" she spoke in a soft voice. He looked at her, his deep, also wise eyes, telling her to leave. She smiled, and looked back at the graves. "I know that death is inevitable for ones such as ourselves," she spoke to Lyuze's grave, "but I kind of wish you were here to at least keep Casshern company. I always fear that he is alone…" she finished. She looked into the sky and smiled once more before walking off.

Casshern waited until he was sure Ringo was far away as to not see him walk up to the two graves. He gave his respect to the elder robot, before he turned around and sat down in front of Lyuze's grave. He and Lyuze were a complicated bunch, possibly more alike than she would have liked to admit. They were both looking for their purposes in life, and they both found it in each other. They became close in the most unlikely of ways, possibly not even knowing how close they truly were until the final days of Lyuze's life. Casshern didn't think that he would miss her like this, but he did, and it was just as bad as those robots that had gone insane with grief.

It wasn't the fact that he just missed her; it was that he was beginning to believe that he couldn't control the urge to see her again. Casshern was starting to want to see her, even though he knew she was dead and couldn't be brought back alive again; his mind was starting to think that there were ways to bring the girl back to him so that he wouldn't live such lonely days and nights. It was just as Ringo had said. He hadn't wanted to be alone, but he was, and each day that passed that he spent his sleepless nights causing the deaths of mortal robots, he knew he'd go crazy.

The night replaced the day, as thunderclouds began to roll in. The night sky flashed, and Casshern sought shelter back in the cave that was not too far from the gravesites. Tonight he would sleep, and he would dream of Lyuze, and hopefully that would be enough to keep his mind in check.

-O-

Luna lay asleep when suddenly, she immediately shot up from her bed. The clap of the thunder shone light into her room, creating long and menacing shadows. She looked around the darkened room, clutching the covers around her body. She shivered involuntarily. "Who's there…?" she asked in a tremor. Another thunderclap was made, and the light that projected itself through the window illuminated two figures standing in front of Luna's bed. "What…?" she said looking at the figures as if they were ghosts. "No!" she screamed, scrambling as far on the bed as she could. There was the smell of death all about her, and she knew it came from the two who stood in front of her. "Death… it's all around me… why, why are you here?" She looked at the male. "I saw you die!"

Dune merely looked at her, and smiled sadly. The female robot was the one to speak. "We need you to do us a favor…" she spoke with authority.

"What is it?" asked Luna, finally ending her earlier hysteria. She couldn't take her eyes off of the man, Dune, who kept staring at her with those eyes. Even now, he still loved her, and only longed to make her happy.

"We want you to heal someone…" Luna looked at the woman, knowing she had been part of her earlier life once in a lifetime. "We can bring her body back, but you have to heal her."

"You want me to make someone else immortal?" asked Luna, getting out of the bed.

"No. She will choose her own fate, but you will instill life into her."

"She has not yet experienced the full bout of living, and if we can do something to help her experience the feeling of love once again," said Dune, still looking Luna straight in the eyes, "then so be it."

"No," spoke Luna, "I cannot give someone dead life. It's… not possible…" she said a bit unsure.

The woman walked up to Luna and put a hand on her shoulder. "After everything I have done for you, and my sister for me, I will allow her to live out her life once more."

The stares of her former body guards had gotten to her so much so that she finally conceded. "Alright, where is she…?"

Liza and Dune looked at each other and nodded, bringing forth the body of the robot that had long withered away. It appeared as if by some supernatural power, and Luna stared at the rusted and chinked robot. When a few rays of supernatural light enveloped her, the soulless robot now had beautiful, flawless skin.

"Now, give her your blood," spoke Lyuze's sister. Luna did as she was told, and used the knife she knew the female guard carried on her to cut her palm. The dark red iron-clad liquid dripped down in heavy droplets into the mouth of Lyuze. More and more slid down Luna's hand, through the air, and onto the robot's lips. "It is enough." Luna moved away, and stood at the edge of her bed watching and wondering what would happen to a dead robot who got her healing. Liza bent down and whispered into Lyuze's ear. "You won't remember anything except that you have to kill Casshern, but I know that you'll find each other and fall in love again." She kissed her sister's cheeks and stood up. "Let's go Dune." Dune followed after the female, waving goodbye to Luna as Lyuze's unconscious body disappeared with them.

-O-

Some Days Later.

Casshern walked into the valley, watching as the ruining robots fought amongst themselves. Even back then, when they didn't know Luna was alive, they would still be at each others' throats, and also bring in other robots and humans that had no need to fight with them. He saw them approach closer, their fighting almost drawing him in. He got into stance as he was going to take them out. They were almost at their ends, and it was better that he put them out of their misery than either one of them becoming the victor.

As he started to fight them, a fight that would only take so much as two seconds to finish, a young woman saw a robot that was entirely different from the whole lot of robots that had gathered. What she saw was a unique, beautiful, graceful robot, and from afar she could also tell that he was strong. She kept watching him, trying to place this feeling that had surrounded her. She knew him; he felt familiar, but how? The man's fight was over, scraps of robots scattered about the valley. Casshern turned to where Lyuze was, and his eyes doubled in size at the sight that was in front of him. He forced himself to call her name.

"Lyuze?" Lyuze hadn't heard a thing he said. It was his face, and his movements, and the apparent grace of his that had reminded her of what she was in this particular region for. Days earlier, she woke up from what felt like a long sleep, only to have two images in her head. One of a woman she knew to be her sister, rusting and dying before her, and another one of a man, whom she hadn't truly known, but knew was the cause for her sister's death. That was all she needed. She ran forward, blade already out and prepared to kill the man who had killed her dear sister.

Casshern didn't bother moving out of Lyuze's way. He called her name as her blade pierced his skin. "You are the reason for my sister's death aren't you?" She struggled forward, and ducked low in order to kick the man. He jumped up, and she followed after him. All this time, the only thing going through Casshern's head was how was it in fact that she was alive. She wasn't a ghost… her movements, and the pain that she inflicted upon him were real. He stopped himself short, and waited until she had been right in front of him. She thought it was her chance, and she took it, impaling the blade deep into Casshern's abdomen. Her blade was a wrist blade, and it had attached to her arm, making her close to the man she wanted to kill. She looked up, in order to see what damage she had inflicted, when she saw deep, but hurting eyes. She tried to escape, but Casshern pulled her into him. He wrapped his hands around her body, and hugged her.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" she screamed as she struggled against him. He looked back at her with those same hurting eyes. Something in her had told her that she wanted this, but it couldn't be true right? Casshern was an enemy; he was the man that had killed her sister! So why, why would she feel such things for him?

"Lyuze," he said sadly, "what are you doing here?"

The girl managed to escape from the man's grasp, jumping a few feet out of arm's length. She looked at the wound as it disappeared as if she hadn't stabbed him deeply. "What do you mean what am I doing here? I am here to kill the one who killed my sister!" She didn't attack after this phrase; she wanted to know what the man was thinking. When he began to speak again, she looked up at him, hearing pity in his voice.

"You aren't supposed to be here Lyuze… its unnatural." She was shocked.

"I'm unnatural?! Didn't you just regenerate? You, who brought the Ruin to the world, are unnatural…" but the look that Casshern had on his face caused her to falter. "You are unnatural…"

"Lyuze, come look for yourself." Casshern moved away from the girl, but no matter how calm he may have appeared to be, inside of his head, he was going crazy. So many questions popping into his head as to why the girl was alive, and as well, why she didn't remember him. He looked behind him, making sure that she was indeed behind him, following him as he took her to the gravesite.

Lyuze followed after Casshern, and when he stopped at a field of colorful flowers she couldn't help but to feel at home, though she was sure she had never been to such a place before. Yeah, she has been in fields of flowers, but never in one with such color as this one. She stepped into the floral field, admiring every color and every scent that she saw and smelt. She began to see images, shadowy ones, of a man and herself. She felt at peace with these unknown visions, where her and this man were always so close, hand in hand, body to body... and in some of them there was another man—definitely built different than the first man—who always had what looked to be a young robot with him.

"What do you want me to see?" Lyuze asked Casshern, who walked up to her. She dismissed the earlier visions and waited for the man to speak.

"Look." Casshern simply pointed to one of the stones, turquoise-colored shard of crystal hanging from the rock the man was pointing too. Immediately at first sight, Lyuze recognized the color and paralleled it to the color of someone's eyes in her vision. A color of a fighter's eyes, but the vision was one of sadness, though why would she have such a strong tie to a shard she had not seen before? Casshern broke the woman out of her reverie and told her what she shouldn't have heard. "This is where we, Ringo and I, buried you and Ohji. You are not supposed to be alive… you are dead Lyuze." The female robot looked at Casshern, and almost fell to the floor. It had to be a joke; it just had to be, but she could tell that not only was Casshern not a joker, but the seriousness of his voice told her that what he was saying may in fact be true. She backed up away from him after he tried to touch her.

"No!" she screamed loudly, "you have to be lying," she spoke in a softer voice. Her head was down, and Casshern stood in the same spot, watching her, still wanting to go over there and hug her, but he couldn't. She wouldn't allow such intimacy from him. What was odd to her was that she believed all that he told her... it posed true, at least from her understanding...

Thunderclouds rolled over head, covering the earlier blue sky in blackness in the blink of an eye. Rain started pouring in sheets and Lyuze stood in the downpour, saying and doing nothing. Casshern looked up at the woman, sadness filling his beautiful visage as he watched an equally beautiful woman struggle with what she had just learned. He took a step forward, and without a thought, pulled the robot into his arms. She slumped into his body, lifeless.

Lyuze gasped at the sudden change in temperature from the rain to the body that was supporting her. Cold and harsh winds had hit her from the heavy downpour, but as soon as Casshern wrapped his strong arms around her, she felt better. Her heart started to race, and she didn't know why. She felt him about to walk away, him gently pulling her to follow him, but she held him in place. She guided her hands to his chest, tracing the top of the prominent red 'c'. She looked up into his questioning eyes. "What are you to me?" she asked glad that the rain was so heavy; her voice had wavered on her. It was embarrassing enough for her to be in this state of vulnerability... that fact that she was leaning on someone she wanted to kill for support was enough for her already.

Casshern had barely heard her question, but he had heard it, and the truth was that he didn't know what to say. What was he to say to a woman who was his lover, who was the purpose of his life? Before when he had just been wandering around the barren earth, he had only been known as the one to bring death. He would indulge in fight after fight, and regret only after it had been too late, though she had always been there, at first, to stop him herself in order to attain revenge, but soon after she was one he held dear to his heart. Even Ringo, and Ohji, and Friender... they all had gained a place in the heart of the robot killer Casshern. Since Casshern had realized this, he knew his purpose for fighting was to protect those he cared for, those he loved.

Lyuze was dead. What more should... or rather _could_ he ask from her. Was he expecting more love, more time to spend wandering the destitute wasteland together? He looked at her who had snuggled deeper into his chest as if trying to escape, and he was presented with those feelings from the earlier days. He longed for her... he wanted her... and she was here. His mind riled with the consequences, but the one that stood out at him was that she was dead.

Exactly, _was_.

She was alive and here right now, and as far as he was concerned, he would not waste time being with her, or loving her with all of his being. Because living forever teaches you things: never take things for granted, especially life. He lifted her head so that she could face him properly and answered without words. The duo had always been the type to speak with actions more so than with words, anyways. Casshern lowered his lips so that they brushed the woman's lips.

Lyuze, listless up until that moment, had felt something entirely static course through her body. The man had not even kissed her, he barely brushed his lips across hers, but even so, that small gesture had elicited so much... excitement in her, that she could not even conceal her surprise. Casshern smiled and planted a longer, deeper, and more passion-filled kiss on her lips. There were no words needed to explain this gesture or to ruin the moment between them. They moved skillfully together to the cave that Cassern had earlier inhabited in an effort to continue their proceedings there.

Casshern moved with the female robot under him, stopping only when she had hit a cave wall. He moved his hands from the small of her back, taking in the feel of her cheeks as he cupped her face. It was smooth, as smooth as silk. This only confirmed that Lyuze had been alive before him once again. Long ago, she was rough with rust. Her skin had been tough from the oxygenated iron that was all about her body.

This was fast. A little too fast for Lyuze, but she could not form the words to tell the man to stop. Her body wasn't listening to her, rather it was betraying her so that she could continue to feel such amazing and full touches that Casshern performed. Finally finding the strength to push Casshern off of her, Lyuze jumped away from him. At first he was confused, but he saw the look on her face, the same emotion visible on her face as well. He smiled lightly and took a seat opposite to Lyuze, who had taken the wall as support.

He saw... no, he felt the tension that they had for each other and it made him happy inside that they still held the same feelings for each other. Casshern looked at Lyuze.

"Are you sure you want to stop?" he said.

"I didn't say anything..." she spoke startled. Of course she wasn't okay. With all that she had just heard from the one she was to destroy, and the fact that his touches were the one to make her lose track of what was going on around her, did not make things okay in her book... how did he know that?

"Somethings don't need to be said in order to be understood..." he stated simply. She stared at him. "You once told me that Lyuze." She couldn't believe it. Every word that left his mouth was enough to get her heart pounding, enough to make her want to reconsider what she had done. She put a stop to his advances, but it was obvious the man didn't want it to end; to be honest, Lyuze wasn't sure herself if she wanted to stop what had been going on either!

She lay herself down against the rock and look up at the green glowing worms on the cave roof. That green color was back, that glowing, beautiful shade of turquoise similar to that of the shard. Her eyes went heavy as she finally lost herself to the over-bearing sleep that she felt; she dreamed of that blue-green color once again, the color that had surrounded her, that turquoise color that had invaded her dreams...

-O-

Lyuze gasped at the sudden darkness that overtook her. At first she was in a beautiful field of white flowers, picking and smelling the flora around her when darkness came. She grew scared, instantly calling out for someone she never thought of... it came as if by instinct. She had called out for Casshern. Lyuze covered her mouth with her hands, shocked at how fast her body had moved to accept the one who was the bringer of death.

In front of her, appeared her sister, Liza, and although Lyuze saw the smile on Liza's face as she ran to her, Liza told Lyuze to stay right where she was.

"Why? Liza, what is wrong?" asked Lyuze scared. Her sister was always there for her, in order to comfort her through everything... was it because of her love for Casshern? "Liza, I am sorry... if it's about Casshern..." Lyuze was cut off.

"You do not need me as you think you do Lyuze... live," the sister spoke as she started to walk into the deeper depths of darkness, "live your life to the fullest, but choose how you live it wisely." After that sentence, she was gone.

"Liza!" Lyuze called out, and she ran in the direction of her sister, falling over off of the side of a cliff that had replaced the flat field of flowers, into deep, dark blue waters below. Lyuze fell, not fighting the pull of gravity that took her deep into the depths of the water. On her way down, she saw a fight between a monster- it was a snake but it had probably nine heads if she counted correctly- that was brutally destroyed by a robot that had a flamethrower. She watched intrigued by the show before her. The hydra, the nine-headed sea snake, had but one head left, yet within an instant, the other heads began to grow back. The robot was scared, but the fire in its hands would not die... Lyuze closed her eyes on the battle, just as the hydra ripped into the robot, the fire extinguishing into nothingness as blackness returned around her.

Lyuze woke up startled by the contents of her dream. What did this all mean? She looked across from her and saw Casshern awake, watching her with interest from the other side. She quickly moved herself form his line of vision and returned to the dream she had witnessed.

"A hydra..." she spoke and Casshern stiffened. She noticed this. "What?" she asked, going to him, "what does that mean?"

Casshern looked her straight in the eyes. "It is a monster you see, one who is immortal. Ringo told you the story when we were in a cave such as this one a long time ago and you-" he stopped himself.

"And I what?" She gripped the robot's shoulder, pleading with him. "What did I do?" she almost yelled.

"I am an immortal being, and when you heard that story, you referenced the hydra as being similar to me... that you could not live, that you would die, but me, I would always be alive, even when I don't want to be..." he finished. His eyes had grown dark, and Lyuze gasped at the sudden insight to not only her words of the past, but Casshern's as well. She sat in front of him, and made her self form to his chest.

"I see... that is what my dream meant. I have to choose whether to be able to die or to live like an immortal..." she looked at the man who watched her sort through her decisions and reasonings. "I may not remember about my past, Casshern, but I can say that today I have decided not to die. I feel like I do not want to leave you alone..."

Casshern gasped. "Lyuze..."

"Casshern," she said turning to face him.

Lyuze initiated the first action, closing her lips over Casshern's, her hands searching, feeling, exploring the body that was his. Casshern responded as eagerly as the first night, and within moments they were on the floor, arms wrapped around each other. Lyuze released her lips from Casshern's.

She looked into his eyes. Both understanding and love radiated off of them and she had to say nothing; he understood her.

"Tomorrow," he recited. She nodded as she buried her head into the crook of his neck. Tomorrow, definitely.

Lyuze and Casshern walked over to the castle that housed Luna, the one who had brought life to those dying from the Ruin early the next morning. Even now, as Casshern and Lyuze waited to see the woman, ruining robots were waiting in line to get their share of healing, others running out of the castle with ecstatic expressions on their visage. Finally when it was their turn to see her, they walked together, hand in hand to Luna.

"I have come to get my healing..." spoke Lyuze as confidently as she thought she sounded. She might have failed in that because Casshern looked at her, squeezing her hand. She looked at him, realizing what his worry was in an instant. "You are not forcing me into this decision Casshern," she assured. "This is something that I want to do myself."

Luna looked at her, smiling widely as she cut her palm with her sword. Luna's blood seeped out slowly from the cut at first, but then started to flow out steadily, staining the ground before them. "Come then, and receive my healing," said Luna to Lyuze. She had remembered it was the same robot Dune and Liza had brought to her and that was why her smile was so wide. There was another who chose to live... One less that will have the stench of death about them...

Lyuze went down to her knees, taking hold of the woman's palm and bringing it closer to her mouth. The inside of Lyuze's mind was chaotic with different thoughts, mostly doubt about the decision she was about to complete. She remembered the hydra and the robot... 'Did the robot win?' was the first thought to her mind. The fire reminded her of something, something crucially important to her past life, but she just couldn't recall. She looked at the blood pooling to her knees now, and then to her lover Casshern. His eyes were filled with worry again, but there was also something else, something that told her that no matter what she chose, he would be happy; he got to see her again after all.

The hydra had won, she thought; her life would be one of an immortal, forced to travel the world endlessly with no chance in dying, but it would all be worth it she thought. So long as she had Casshern beside her, she would bear with the pains of living forever, and together they could reach an even deeper understanding. Bits and pieces of her past returned, and she knew that she and Casshern could never reach that level of understanding as they were in the past. He was immortal, never once having to worry about being consumed by the Ruin, while she on the other hand, had no idea the kind of pain he felt to see the people he loved the most die before him... that he would always be there to watch them get old, dig their graves, mourn over them, but never have the same treatment...

Lyuze made one quick movement and licked the blood that had stained Luna''s hand. She stepped back after she had taken her fill, wiping the iron liquid form her lips. She felt rejuvenated and renewed. Casshern took Lyuze's hand, saying nothing to neither her nor Luna as he walked out of the castle with his company in tow...

-O-

Ringo walked to the gravesites once again, paying tribute to the robots who had lain there. "Ohji, I had an incredible dream last night. It was about Lyuze and Casshern." she spoke softly, closing her eyes as she recalled the dream. "They were together, but for some reason I felt there was immense sadness about them..." Ringo looked up into the sky, opening her eyes to the bright blue and white hues above her. "... to me it felt like my dream was telling me that 'Death has finally found his company...'"

-X-

A/N: I wanted to emphasize the choosing immortality or mortality by the dream, and I think I pulled it off phenomenally! How was the emotions though, I have trouble with that, but other than that, I like how this short story came out, it is deep (at least to me)... Bye bye for now!


End file.
